If we can eliminate dangers or reduce them to an acceptable level, and if we can agree on what that level is and who will enforce it, then we can consider the benefits. In the case of fracking, New York is going to take a few years to make sure that it can be done safely and that reasonable people can agree that the necessary regulations and enforcement are in place.

You'd think that it would take a panel of scientists to make these determinations, but it is much more simple. All you have to do is apply the watershed test.

New York City gets its water from upstate reservoirs that sit above pockets of frackable gas. The city's current mayor and other leaders favor fracking as long as the state draws a big red line around the watershed and does not allow drilling inside.

If the state eventually comes up with enough rules and the money to enforce them so that the next mayor and those leaders will agree to fracking inside the watershed, we would be able to assume that the practice is safe enough to be pursued elsewhere as well. If not, we can assume that there are enough doubts about the safety of fracking so that it should be either prohibited or sent back for even more study.

We can apply such simple logic to other thorny energy questions as well, especially the safety of nuclear power plants as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers requests to extend the licenses of the plants at Indian Point. And all nations with reactors are working to absorb the lessons from the meltdowns that followed the tsunami in Japan.

Here you need to apply two tests, one dealing with politicians and the other with rats. (No, they are not the same. Stop being so cynical.) In Washington, the NRC has been wrestling with the need for expensive emergency filters that might keep radioactive particles from escaping in the case of an accident, even though staff members admit the filters don't always work as well as they might. Making the case that the nuclear industry should not have to spend all this money are dozens of lawmakers, most of whom have received some of that money themselves.

In Japan earlier this month, a blackout cut power to the cooling system for four pools storing thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods at one of the damaged reactors. They traced the fault back to a switchboard and inside they found two things — frayed wires and a charred rat.

You might think that after all these years, those who design and operate reactors and those who are responsible for their safety had figured out ways to keep a single rat or a handful of politicians from exposing us to so much risk. In both cases, you'd be wrong.